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This December 3, 2016 handout photograph obtained courtesy of Virgin Galactic shows the Virgin Spaceship (VSS) Unity as it touches down after flying freely for the first time after being released from Virgin Mothership Eve (VMS Eve) in the Mojave Desert, California. (HO/Virgin Galactic/AFP/-)

British entrepreneur Richard Branson said he expects his Virgin Galactic company to conduct its first space flight "within weeks, not months" in comments broadcast Tuesday.

Speaking to CNBC in Singapore, the billionaire Virgin founder said the company was "more than tantalizingly close" to launching its first mission to space, and that he himself hoped to briefly leave Earth within "months not years".

"We will be in space with people not too long after that," he added.

Branson's Virgin Galactic is racing against Amazon creator Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to launch the first out-of-this-world passenger flight and take paying passengers into space.

Both companies will offer customers a weightless experience that will last just minutes, passing through the imaginary line marking where space begins -- either the Karman line, at 100 kilometers, or the 50-mile boundary recognized by the US Air Force.